Campaigns and Lobbying
As part of our members' representation agenda we look to campaign and lobby on issues that are relevant to our members, city and our region. Generally we want to involve ourselves in issues where we feel we can make a real difference. Current campaigns include:
A Permanent High Court for Birmingham
We believe the current ‘circuit’ approach to running The High Court in England and Wales is outdated. It was last reviewed in 1968 over 40 years ago. We believe that in the 21st Century having locally based High Courts and High Court Judges is the way forward. We also accept that this requires a massive change to the current model. Hence we undertook some detailed research and analysis in 2005 and developed a comprehensive report that demonstrated Birmingham could support between three and five full time High Court Judges. Armed with this information we proposed that our city be used as a pilot to prove the workability of our proposal for four or five years. Subject to the results of this pilot the process could be rolled out across all the High Court Circuits over a period of time. Our initial report was well received although there still seems to be a high level of reservation about our proposal – one that works in many other UK modelled jurisdictions. We were delighted with the decision to award a permanent Administrative Court to Birmingham, and some other UK cities, and we are now working hard to ensure that this court, which opens in April, will be extremely well utilised. Later in 2009 we wish to return to our core argument and seek some further changes given that we believe the current system is unfair in a number of areas including Human Rights.
Birmingham Connectivity
As a city at the heart of the UK, with almost 98% of the UK population within a 4 hour drive, connectivity will remain a top priority for us going forward. Whether it's our support for the extension of the runway at Birmingham International Airport – a project of great regional economic benefit, and all the more important at this time of downturn or our interest in seeing the upgrading and refurbishment of New Street Station to turn it into a fitting ‘Gateway to Birmingham’ we will be there looking to see concrete action happening soonest.
